• Baez allowed three hits, walked three and struck out six batters in 4 &frac13; scoreless innings in the Arizona Fall League — the first on the mound for the converted infielder. If that was Baez’s audition to keep a spot on the roster, he might have passed.

• In the world of baseball, still drenched in PED-related scandal, Barry Bonds is persona non grata. In the world of cycling — Bonds’ world, now — he is blending in, writes Gwen Knapp for SportsOnEarth.com. Maybe this is a glimpse of a post-PED-scandalized MLB, and maybe there’s room for Barry Bonds in that world.

• According to MLB.com, the Marlins are open to signing Juan Uribe to play either third base or first, and are holding on to former Dodger Nate Eovaldi as their number-two starter for 2014.

• The delay in ratifying a new posting system for Japanese players, including Masahiro Tanaka, has “enough elements of economics, politics and international relations to fill up the syllabus of a 300-level college seminar,” writes FoxSports.com’s Jon Paul Morosi. The Cliffs Notes version: MLB, for a few reasons, has a fair amount of leverage in this fight.

• We wrote this about Brian Wilson three weeks ago: “it’s reasonable to expect the Dodgers will enter the bidding for Wilson. Just don’t be surprised if a team desperate for a closer guarantees more money and more years to a pitcher who’s saved one game the past two seasons.” ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick sized up the market for closers today and concluded that the demand includes half of all major-league teams, which outpaces the supply by quite a bit.

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.

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